ELYSEE PALACE LEANS TO THE LEFT

The presidency of Francois Hollande has begun in France. This is a politician who has no managerial experience in the Fifth Republic, but is one of the leaders of the Socialist Party. The candidate from the leading left-wing political force defeated the former head of state, Gaullist Nicolas Sarkozy, with 51.62 per cent against 48.38 per cent of the vote.

"The first condition for confidence in the government is the unity of the nation"

In his inaugural speech, Francois Hollande said: "The first condition for confidence in the government is the unity of the nation. Our differences should not cause division and hatred. Our views in all their diversity should not lead to disunity. The country needs peace, reconciliation and unity."

With his first decisions as president, Francois Hollande tried to show that he is not going to differ from his fellow citizens with any special privileges. Actually, Hollande demonstrated it before his inauguration, riding through the Champs-Elysees in a car that is not usually used for such occasions. He preferred a hybrid, cost-effective and environmentally friendly car of the middle class, a Citroen DS5.

Then, in accordance with the paragraphs of his election manifesto, in which Hollande promised the French people social equality, the president secured a decision to reduce the salaries of the president and cabinet members by 30 per cent at the first meeting of the new government.

As for the composition of the government, the ministerial positions were taken by the closest associates of Hollande, mainly prominent figures of the French Socialist Party. Jean-Marc Ayrault was appointed prime minister, Pierre Moscovici (who led Hollande's election campaign) - minister of finance, Laurent Fabius (who headed the cabinet in 1984-1986 under President Francois Mitterrand) - foreign minister, Manuel Valls (who was Hollande's press secretary in the election campaign) - interior minister, and Jean-Yves Le Drian (a close friend of the president) - defence minister.

The government confirmed its desire to fulfill Francois Hollande's campaign promises, which include, inter alia, a more prudent fiscal policy, which should enrich France's budget by 29 billion euros over five years. We are talking about an expected 45-per-cent tax on the profits of French citizens who earn more than 150,000 euros a year, and a 75-per-cent tax on the income of people earning more than one million euros.

But the success of Hollande's policy will depend not only on the effectiveness of his measures inside the country, but also in Europe, which is extremely important and risky, given that Europe has not yet made up its mind on how to overcome the financial and debt crisis.

Discord with Germany?

It is the attitude to the crisis that has revealed contradictions between Francois Hollande and Angela Merkel, who enjoyed unequivocal support from former French President Sarkozy. The Financial Stability Pact, adopted by the eurozone states on the initiative of Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy, provides for austerity measures to overcome the crisis. Hollande is opposed to cuts in social spending and insists on a revision of the pact.

The new president of France opposes the candidacy of German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble as head of the Eurogroup, which includes the finance ministers of the 17 member countries of the eurozone, the European commissioners for finance and economy, the chairman of the European Central Bank and other senior EU officials. This structure is an advisory body and has no formal powers. However, it can be considered a de facto "shadow government of the European Union", as the Eurogroup takes the most important decisions that determine the financial and economic policies of the EU. Wolfgang Schaeuble has a reputation as an "iron minister": since an assassination attempt in 1990, the German politician has been using a wheelchair, but still puts in a phenomenal performance. Hollande believes that if Schaeuble heads the Eurogroup, the EU will get "the German version" of austerity.

Another aspect of the French-German contradiction is that Francois Hollande urged the EU to discuss the possibility of introducing common sovereign bonds - Eurobonds, through which it is planned to level the profitability of strong and weak eurozone countries. Germany is against the creation of such pan-European debts. According to Angela Merkel, the introduction of Eurobonds will violate EU treaties and will not contribute to the rapid growth of the eurozone countries.

At the same time, Paris and Berlin reached a common view on the possible withdrawal of Greece from the eurozone. France and Germany believe that the Greek crisis cannot be overcome at a time when withdrawal from the eurozone is considered.

As expected, Paris and Berlin will finally clarify their positions by the end of June when France and Germany will be representing the European Union together, or speaking in Merkel's words, "their ideas about economic growth in Europe".

Paris in the West and East

The originality of the new French leader begins to manifest itself in his approach to foreign policy issues. At the NATO summit in Chicago, Francois Hollande, in accordance with his electoral programme, confirmed his intention to withdraw the French military contingent from Afghanistan by the end of this year (about 3,300 French soldiers are currently serving in Afghanistan, and in the more than 10 years of the operation by the multinational forces against the Taliban, France has lost 83 people). Hollande said at the G8 summit at Camp David that his decision "is not subject to negotiations". Demonstrating solidarity with French soldiers serving in Afghanistan, he paid an unannounced visit to Kabul on 25 May.

Meanwhile, the "Afghan" decision of the new inhabitant of the Elysee Palace was received by France's NATO allies without much enthusiasm. Angela Merkel once again acted as an opponent of Hollande, saying at the summit in Chicago: "We came to Afghanistan together and have to leave it together."

As for Washington's position, it was quite transparently outlined in an interview with Le Figaro newspaper by Deputy Assistant US Secretary of Defence James Townsend, who noted that France's new president should think about his vision of his country's role in NATO before declaring the early withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. "We came there together and have to leave together," the Pentagon spokesman said.

Nevertheless, the leadership of the alliance has no choice but to agree with Hollande's decision. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that he would discuss with the president of France "other forms" of the country's participation in supporting the operation in Afghanistan. Specifically, it means that France could move from participating in combat operations to the training of the Afghan police and military.

Some distinctive remarks were also made by Francois Hollande on the establishment of a NATO missile defence system in Europe. During the election campaign, he announced his restrained attitude towards the idea of a missile defence shield, which is actively promoted by the United

States contrary to Russia's opinion. Hollande explained Paris's position by the observance of four principles. First, missile defence cannot be a substitute for nuclear deterrence. Second, the new missile defence system should be brought under political control (the French diplomats say they need to "know who presses the button and when"). Third, French and European industry must be directly involved in the creation of European missile defence. Finally, the last requirement is strict control over the cost of creating and maintaining the missile defence system "in order to avoid uncontrolled growth in expenditure, the burden of which may be too heavy for the alliance".

At the NATO summit, Francois Hollande added a proposal for Russia to these four principles. "There can be no question of the missile defence shield threatening anyone," the French president said, calling for further dialogue with Moscow on missile defence.

Thus, Francois Hollande shows that he will follow Paris's traditional policy of defending its own views and distancing itself from US hegemony in the Western bloc. This is particularly interesting given the fact that under the former French president, there was a tendency of rapprochement between Paris and Washington. Apparently, this trend will undergo major change, if indeed it is part of modern Euro-Atlantic security at all.

However, Hollande's France will probably stick to the common Western approach in solving the most pressing issues of the Middle East. We are talking about the Syrian crisis and Iran's nuclear programme.

For example, the French Foreign Ministry rejected the appeal of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to change Paris's policy on Damascus. "Bashar al-Assad's statements will not make us forget that his security forces continue to kill their own people and that he has not yet begun to execute the plan of the special envoy of the UN and the Arab League for Syria, Kofi Annan," the French foreign minister's spokesman, Bernard Valero, said.

The nature of French policy on Syria in the short term is clearly demonstrated by Francois Hollande's determination to push through a tough UN Security Council resolution that condemns the Assad regime to full collapse. To this end, the new president of France aims to persuade Russia not to block such a resolution.

Francois Hollande takes a similar uncompromising position when discussing the Iranian problem. Together with US President Barack Obama, the French leader reiterated the West's position, according to which the negotiations with Iran will continue provided Iran refuses the opportunity to develop nuclear weapons.

All this indicates that the new French leader agrees with the need to jointly tackle the threats, which the West believes are facing Euro-Atlantic civilization, and, at the same time, to maintain the role of Paris in world politics through active participation in solving the most controversial issues.